From Publishers Weekly
The ad copy on the back of the proofs for Pyper's second novel (after Lost Girls) points out just what's right, and what's wrong, with the book: "The Trade Mission is a gripping, ingeniously plotted thriller with an underlying literary interest in social criticism...." The novel does grip, and while its plot-two young North American software entrepreneurs and their colleagues visiting Brazil are kidnapped by extortionists in the jungle, then escape for a chase-isn't quite ingenious, it's clever enough; so far so good. The problem is the "underlying literary interest in social criticism." One supposes the copywriter mentioned "literary" as a pointer to Pyper's prose, which is lush and suffused with psychological insight, but which too often draws attention to itself at the expense of the story. The "social criticism" is relayed through character studies-the kidnapped are extremely complex creations, as is their Canadian translator, a woman rapidly approaching middle age, who narrates; her probings into the differences rendered by wealth, class and age among the kidnapped, and between them and their captors, are perceptive and fresh. The novel takes a serious wrong turn, though, when the kidnapped are harbored by a tribe of Yanomami Indians. While giving the narrator plenty of chance to comment on the degradation of the rain forest and its peoples by industrial interests, this turn feels contrived; it leads to the kidnapped ingesting a native hallucinogen, which exacerbates the murkiness of the narrator's perceptions and results in a storytelling muddle that Pyper straightens out only through further contrivances. Pyper is a talented stylist and a masterful psychological portraitist, but his new novel is a slog. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Deliverance comes to the Amazonian rain forest in this verbose suspense tale from the author of Lost Girls (2000). Elizabeth Crossman has been retained as a translator for two 24-year-old dot-com millionaires, Wallace and Bates, who have come to Brazil to hawk their new Internet service. While on a tourist cruise up the Rio Negro, they are abducted by sadistic paramilitary pirates and brutally tortured--with all the gruesome details graphically described. The resourceful (and increasingly unstable) Wallace leads them in a violent escape from their captors, but they end up lost in the jungle without food or water--and relentlessly pursued by the savage criminals. Those looking for a gripping survival yarn will be disappointed in this dialogue-dense opus with literary aspirations, but readers who like erudite description and philosophical discussion will find this an accommodating choice. Recommended only for large fiction collections. Michael Gannon
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
The Ottawa Citizen A terrific, compulsively readable thriller.

Book Description
On the heels of his acclaimed bestselling debut Lost Girls, Andrew Pyper brings his darkly musical language, chilling suspense, and psychological complexity to a story of survival in the Amazon jungle. On the delirious eve of the new millennium, Marcus Wallace and Jonathon Bates, two twenty-four-year-old overnight dot-com millionaires, are on a trade mission in Brazil. Their product is Hypothesys, a virtual "morality machine" that promises to help people "make the best decisions of their lives." But when the decision is made to take an ecotour up the Río Negro deep into the Amazon jungle, the Hypothesys team members are forced to make choices for themselves -- choices that carry fatal consequences. In the dead of night, their boat is boarded by paramilitaries who kill the Brazilian crew and kidnap Wallace and Bates, their two older colleagues, and their enigmatic interpreter, Crossman. Blindfolded and thrown into a pit for a prison, they must fight to find the will to survive. But when the increasingly unstable Wallace engineers a violent escape, their own natures emerge as a threat potentially more dangerous than the boundless jungle that surrounds them, or the gunmen who relentlessly pursue them. A rare combination of literary skill, contemporary insight, and outstanding storytelling, The Trade Mission is an electrifying read that confirms Andrew Pyper's mastery of psychological suspense.

Download Description
"On the heels of his acclaimed bestselling debut Lost Girls, Andrew Pyper brings his darkly musical language, chilling suspense, and psychological complexity to a story of survival in the Amazon jungle. On the delirious eve of the new millennium, Marcus Wallace and Jonathon Bates, two twenty-four-year-old overnight dot-com millionaires, are on a trade mission in Brazil. Their product is Hypothesys, a virtual ""morality machine"" that promises to help people ""make the best decisions of their lives."" But when the decision is made to take an ecotour up the Río Negro deep into the Amazon jungle, the Hypothesys team members are forced to make choices for themselves -- choices that carry fatal consequences. In the dead of night, their boat is boarded by paramilitaries who kill the Brazilian crew and kidnap Wallace and Bates, their two older colleagues, and their enigmatic interpreter, Crossman. Blindfolded and thrown into a pit for a prison, they must fight to find the will to survive. But when the increasingly unstable Wallace engineers a violent escape, their own natures emerge as a threat potentially more dangerous than the boundless jungle that surrounds them, or the gunmen who relentlessly pursue them. A rare combination of literary skill, contemporary insight, and outstanding storytelling, The Trade Mission is an electrifying read that confirms Andrew Pyper's mastery of psychological suspense. "

About the Author
Andrew Pyper was born in Stratford, Ontario, in 1968. His first novel, Lost Girls, was an international bestseller and selected as a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times. He lives in Toronto.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

On the delirious eve of the new millennium, Marcus Wallace and Jonathon Bates, two twenty-four-year-old overnight dot-com millionaires, are on a trade mission in Brazil. Their product is Hypothesys, a virtual "morality machine" that promises to help people "make the best decisions of their lives." But when the decision is made to take an ecotour up the Río Negro deep into the Amazon jungle, the Hypothesys team members are forced to make choices for themselves -- choices that carry fatal consequences.

In the dead of night, their boat is boarded by paramilitaries who kill the Brazilian crew and kidnap Wallace and Bates, their two older colleagues, and their enigmatic interpreter, Crossman. Blindfolded and thrown into a pit for a prison, they must fight to find the will to survive. But when the increasingly unstable Wallace engineers a violent escape, their own natures emerge as a threat potentially more dangerous than the boundless jungle that surrounds them, or the gunmen who relentlessly pursue them.

A rare combination of literary skill, contemporary insight, and outstanding storytelling, The Trade Mission is an electrifying read that confirms Andrew Pyper's mastery of psychological suspense.

FROM THE CRITICS

Times

Suspenseful

Guardian

This is a sombre portrait of men and women under the most intense psychological and physical pressure. It packs a mean punch - and some rude surprises - as morality and decency quickly go out of the window. A wonderfully twisted updating of James Dickey's Deliverance , this one will grip you.

Noah Richler - National Post

Pyper, reacting quickly to the narrative possibilities of the dot-com phenomenon, has found a luscious, unusual and, most of all, dangerous setting, and written a story with gusto, as well as blood and guts.

Independent on Sunday

The Trade Mission is a powerfully written, spiky and always gripping drama..., combining as it does Stephen King...with Joseph Conrad to produce a work that is strongly redolent of the early novels of Ian McEwan

Ottawa Citizen